It’s been five years since Anno 1800, but we’ve finally seen what’s next for Ubisoft’s history-hopping city-building series. Anno 117: Pax Romana will be the earliest period for the franchise yet, travelling back to the time of a peaceful Ancient Rome. After the biggest gap between Anno games yet, we at least won’t have to wait too long for the newly revealed entry: it’s out next year.
Anno 117 was revealed on-stage by developers Ubisoft Mainz – one third of series devs Ubisoft Blue Byte – during tonight’s Ubisoft Forward showcase. There was a fairly charming live-action skit about a guy spouting Roman scripture to an empty field of sheep, to make up for the fact we didn’t see any gameplay.
We did at least get some details, including the note that for the first time in the long-running series you’ll be able to choose between different starting provinces: choosing to rule over either the Roman empire of Latium or the Celtic Britain of Albion, looking to spread the cultural influence of either the Romans or the Celts accordingly.
That’s about all we know for now, with the rest sounding very much true to the Annoe we know – you’ll be seeking a successful civilisation through economic and cultural heft, rather than straight-up military campaigning, which will involve overseeing everything from hosting colosseum battles (including the naval battles ones where they turn the arena into a giant pool) to building aqueducts. While the earlier era means Pax Romana drops a digit from the Anno title years of old, keen-eyed fans will note that the individual digits still add up to the series’ hallmark total of 9.
Anno 117 will be released in 2025, and will be part of Ubisoft’s Ubisoft+ Premium subscription offering as well as by itself. We’ll find out more during a dedicated livestream on June 18th.
The flurry of summer games events are now underway! Hit up our Summer Game Fest 2024 hub and our Day Of The Devs roundup for all the news worth caring about from the shows so far.